And so my encroachment upon the south island begins, and a loosely planned one at that, looser than a Manchester Street hooker I headed out east along route 73, the Great Alpine Highway via Arthurs Pass. Thankfully, the daily grind and my scuzzy lifestyle was being left to one side for the time being, I now found myself with the freedom and time to assess what the south island had to offer, taking it at ease and not rushing it being the order of the day, it was time to be free again. Route 73 runs from Christchurch some 255 km out to the West Coast though the Southern Alps; a route formerly developed in the 1860’s to transport gold from the West Coast to Christchurch. A somewhat perilous route that only ever actually saw one
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